A western rancher with a broke down yearling bull calls the breeder, and the breeder says, "What are you going to believe, my EPD's or your lying eyes?"

That figure is obviously an exaggeration for marketing purposes. But we have some real problems with cattle genetics in this country.

We have a lot of wealthy people in the cattle business that trust numbers and not their eyes, because they simply don't know much about visual appraisal of cattle. This has led to over reliance on 205 day weights, feed conversion efficiencies, etc. Then breeders have learned to game the system by pampering and over stuffing calves to increase their value.

Another issue at work is that it is nearly impossible to be a pedigree breeder in our toughest range conditions. Measuring birth weights, 205 day weights, etc., is nearly impossible and working out breeding history or pursing artificial insemination in huge pastures is more expensive. So you wind up with bull breeders from more humid climates and yearling bulls that haven't done much traveling being shipped west and tasked with covering track athlete cows on 500 sections in the boot heel of New Mexico. Some of them just won't last.

And Angus isn't the only breed with structural problems. Anyone want to lease a sickle hocked Herf bull with dew claws dragging the ground? He's fully tested and has excellent EPD's!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsKZaRXjSJU&feature=emb_logo